Dump Day

Today we *finally* made it to the Porterfield Dump.*

This has been a much-anticipated trip; David Giebler has been promising us a trip to the dump since we moved here in August. The Porterfield Dump is an institution. Much like the highly-regarded Micky-Lu's, the dump is a place that really cannot be well explained without a proper visit. We went, we hunted, and we gathered. Among the list of things we found: vintage 1960s light fixtures, a bar stool of the same era, and an enormous cooler for our trips to Woodmans. (We also found Art and Katherine Holman. Just back from their 3-months trip to Myanmar, Bali, and the land of their new granddaughter, we got to be among the first to welcome their tanned selves back in the North Woods.)

Here are some pictures to help tell the story of our adventures.


























*For those of you not from around here, Porterfield is a small town (population 1,991) 13 miles northeast of Marinette. Home of the Porterfield Country Music Festival (this year, featuring Billy Ray Cyrus and Kellie Pickler).

spirogeography

Our friend Tom of Dree's Electric has come to visit us twice this week. He will be back again tomorrow. All of these visits have been in response to the fact that our ice cream is never very hard. It is always kind of soft and soupy, and as Bill Forbes would say, ice cream *must* be kept very cold. Otherwise, it's just not worth eating.

Our concern led us to use the outdoor component of our weather station (affectionately named "Sven") to track the temperature in our freezer. The temperature has varied from zero to twenty-something degrees. Rhonda, the reliable researcher extraordinaire found out the zero is the prime freezer temperature.

"Sven"

Always a thorough sleuth, R then called the good folks at Drees who sold us the refrigerator back in August. In turn, we were sent Tom. Tom is a nice, nice man. He has been here several times before, and we appreciate not only his kindness but also his eagerness -- even joy - at explaining things in great detail.

In order to gain the needed information about our freezer, Tom installed this lovely little creature in our kitchen.

She is approximately ten by six inches and sits cozily between the fridge and the toaster. She records the changes in temperature in graph form. The graphs look like this:

Tom came yesterday to install the device (let's name her Ella, shall we?) and he came back today to check in on her progress. What Ella seemed to be telling Tom is that the freezer is confused. Unbeknown to most of us, freezers are designed in such a way that if the air around them (meaning in our house) is cold enough, the refrigerator thinks it doesn't have to work so much. So, basically, Tom thinks that we keep our house too cold for the freezer to function correctly! Does anyone else see the irony here?

Tom will return tomorrow to check on Ella again. In the meantime we have turned the heat up to a whopping 65 degrees to see if that impacts Ella's readings. If it does, we might have to buy a special device, made only by Frigidaire, that trains the freezer to overcome its confusion.

I have come to love Ella. She is so smart, and, at times, dramatic. I check on her regularly and appreciate the circular graphicness. She is lovely and good at what she does.

Tom is also good at what he does. And he is thorough. He will come back again tomorrow, analyze the data, make a recommendation. And it will have been of no expense to us. This makes Tom also lovely. In a different kind of way.

Dear bitch...

This is how one Canadian journalist recently began his "Open Letter to Mother Nature" in which he explains the effect that this winter has had on his northern compatriots. Most of the funny stuff is in the beginning, but after experiencing non-stop snow for the past three days, I am feeling inclined to help circulate the rant.

Minneapolis, Minnesota

We've just returned from a few days in Minneapolis with our friends Emily & Elizabeth. It was a fantastic getaway; we slept in, danced, sat by the fire, worked on a (very freakin' hard) puzzle, and ate delicious food. I am tired after a very full day of goodwill hunting ( they have an outlet!), co-op shopping, and hours upon hours of driving. Although I am now in my office (in pajamas) with a dog asleep at my feet, I still feel as though I am driving over the bumpy roads that are mid-Wisconsin highways.


food!


Ikea.





E & E.



waiting for mock duck.

D.I.Y.

I just put the finishing touches on my office space (meaning I cleared out the paint and nailed the baseboard back in) and I am feel particularly proud of my accomplishments. This is, I think, the first project I have undertaken -- and actually completed -- mostly by my self (with due credit to Rhonda the wallpaper scraper). So, I will self-indulge with a photo of my accomplishment. Isn't it lovely? It should really make me want to go grade papers right now...

letters

This article offers an interestingreflection on the tradition of hand-written letters of condolence that families receive upon the death of a soldier. It is amazing that these letters are still written by hand. How many of these letters have been sent in the last several years?

Spring. Break.

I have been quiet for a while... trying to finish a load of stuff before spring break. I am so excited to have a week off. Why don't we do this every semester? I still have to do lots of grading and such, but at least I get to grade in my pajamas.

I have also been busy with a whirlwind of house stuff. Suddenly I feel like doing lots of house projects again. This week stripped wallpaper and primed and painted. The far wall in my office is going to be *green*. Though, I have discovered that painting paneling is a pain in the bum. I stripped the paper, primed, sanded and painted, and I am sure it will require at least two more coats. anyway, that is a boring topic...

What else? Buddy had his anal glands expressed today. The very nice (very gay!) vet was incredibly helpful and explained how we can do this at home (it s 24 bucks per gland expression ). He used all kinds of formal, veterinary language until he described the "upwards motion towards the butthole." His assistant said " hmmm... butthole. Is that the technical term?"

What else are we going to do during the week of break? Sand, paint, plan a garden, play with the dog, have friends over, play Life and Monopoly, cook, sleep, and grade some stuff. Oh, yeah, and then we are going to Minneapolis for a few days to see Emily and Elizabeth. Hooray!

Finally, I want to say congrats to the many of you who have recently accepted jobs. It is really exciting to hear the stories, and even more exciting to not have to actually do the work of looking for a job. It is a sad state of things (in the PhD job market) when you have a 50/50 chance of *ever* getting a job. That makes your various successes even more exciting and hard earned.

More soon.... A

Not for the easily offended (ahem, Dad)

a ski before breakfast

The snow is still here. Lots of it. Despite many well-wished from friends (Jennifer, thanks for the encouragements of spring & the book!) we are still surrounded by at least one and a half feet of snow all around.

This is definitely the longest winter I have ever experienced. However, there is an upside: because of the daytime melting and nighttime re-freezing, the snow is really hard and quite good for cross country skiing. I bought skis in February (thanks to mom and grandma's b.day contributions) and I have been skiing quite a bit. The best part is that I can ski right out of our back door and off into the woods. The struggle is creating a trail, but when the snow is packed hard as it is now, I can ski anywhere with no problem. I went skiing yesterday afternoon, and it was hilarious. I took Buddy along for the romp, but had to hold on to him until we got into the woods. He would pull me for a while until one of the skis would poke him in the butt and then he would shoot ahead, pulling me off balance. We took several tumbles which meant me landing in a heap on the ground followed by Buddy running over to me and climbing onto my crumpled body so as to appropriately lick my face in consolation.

This morning I went for a wake-up ski. Alone. It was beautiful in the woods at 7:15. All I could hear were the birds and the shh-shh-ing of my skis over the icy terrain.

F#!@ing Ice Dam

I haven't talked enough about the weather. Sure, I've posted my occasional complaints about the temperature and once in a while I mention the large amounts of snow. But, I haven't talked about the bigger picture. This winter has broken all kinds of records for snow accumulation. We have had about 80 inches since December and a lot of it is still sitting on the ground. Long-time residents who know we are new to the area continually feel the need to explain: "this is a really unusual winter. I don't remember having snow like this in at least 30 years."

The image above is from mid-January, and we have had at least 30 inches on top of what you see here. Rhonda has been diligently shoveling the driveway after every single storm; I help when I can. The important fact, however, is that the snow does not melt. I have never before lived in a place where snow sticks around for months. It causes craziness in the spring...

Well, now it is March. Some say March is the snowiest month of all in Wisconsin as the weather "warms" up to more snowable temps. What we did not realize is that it is also the month of CRAZY weather. Not just snow. No. That would be too simple.

Yesterday was warm (37!) and during the day things began to melt. However, last night we had a thunder storm with torrential rains. The first rain anyone has seen in months. But the problem is that the roof of the house is still frozen solid, and there is at least 2 feet of snow everywhere. So shazaam! at 8pm we suddenly had multiple streams of water pouring onto my desk. The last two hours of consciousness yesterday were spent with Rhonda and I running like chickens around the house, collecting towels, mopping up puddles of water, trying to dam the leaks, and shop-vaccing up the enormous puddles that formed in the basement.

But the craziest part of it all is that, by 5am, the rain turned to ice and and snow. And now it looks like the most placid winter wonderland outside. No indication of the insanity wreaked eight hours ago.

Willy

Today this little dog showed up at our house. He was running down the middle of the street with cars almost hitting him. His name is Willy and he lives down the street but his family is gone. So far he has been here for four hours. Buddy is starting to get grumpy.